All posts tagged ‘Jungle Cruise’

It’s a good bet that a lot of kids who can’t get enough cartoons dream about someday getting a job making them. It’s pretty likely, too, that everyone who’s ever captained the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland has spent some portion of each trip fantasizing about what they could really do for Disney if only their full talents were realized. It’s also safe to say that most people in both categories, alas, never see those dreams come true. But then, not everyone can be John Lasseter.

Lasseter, who turns 56 today, studied animation in college at the California Institute of the Arts — in a class taught by three of Disney’s Nine Old Men — alongside classmates such as Brad Bird, John Musker, Henry Selick, and Tim Burton. After graduation, he got a job as, yes, the skipper of the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland. Fortunately for the world, he soon got a job at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he worked on films such as Mickey’s Christmas Carol. On being shown some of the computer animation work being done on the original Tron film, Lasseter quickly realized the potential of the technology and began to work with friends on making a short test film and gearing up for a feature. In doing so, though, he ruffled feathers at Disney and was fired.

It’s a good bet that a lot of kids who can’t get enough cartoons dream about someday getting a job making them. It’s pretty likely, too, that everyone who’s ever captained the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland has spent some portion of each trip fantasizing about what they could really do for Disney if only their full talents were realized. It’s also safe to say that most people in both categories, alas, never see those dreams come true. But then, not everyone can be John Lasseter.

Lasseter, who turns 55 today, studied animation in college at the California Institute of the Arts — in a class taught by three of Disney’s Nine Old Men — alongside classmates such as Brad Bird, John Musker, Henry Selick, and Tim Burton. After graduation, he got a job as, yes, the skipper of the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland. Fortunately for the world, he soon got a job at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he worked on films such as Mickey’s Christmas Carol. On being shown some of the computer animation work being done on the original Tron film, Lasseter quickly realized the potential of the technology and began to work with friends on making a short test film and gearing up for a feature. In doing so, though, he ruffled feathers at Disney and was fired.